Bounty To Collect
by NavyQuill
Summary: This is the story as to why a bounty was placed on live Jedi, how Goto came to change the reasons, and what one seventeen year old girl named Dior Ta'ukat could make defeating the Sith much more difficult and complicated.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.**

**Summary: This is the story as to why a bounty was placed on live Jedi, how Goto came to change the reasons, and what one seventeen-year-old girl could make defeating the Sith much more difficult and complicated. **

**Set before the introduction of the Exile **

—

**_A Bounty to Collect…_**

**Chapter I**

_**Biggest Mistake**_

—

The night skies of Nar Shaddaar roared with the stench of burning metals, plastic and near enough, toxicant gasses, which fled through the light breeze. Glistening stars flashed with light from above, additionally the all-round, man-made bulbs that poisoned people's eyes of multiple colourings. The towering architecture hovered miles above, with ships docked illegally aloft many of them.

The twisted weather of frost continued to plague the city-filled planet, which was swarming with hundreds upon hundreds of Refugees, commoners and assortments of aliens. Many of the aliens had only approached Nar Shaddaar in hope of a business career, whether that meant joining the Exchange or simply running a corner weaponry shop, lots of money was to be made.

Cargo holders would be packed to the rear end in equipment to be shipped to this planet – credits being traded over games of Pazaak, and sometimes the card-players would shuttle themselves over to play the popular game of Pazaak – Nar Shaddaar Rules. With the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War finally over, travellers were at rest, but at a great price – the people left homeless were crammed tight into one sector of the city, where poor appliances were kept and little food and drink.

Deep in the heart of the Refugee Sector, a loud, sound, obvious crowd was growing limitless, bounded to where the blood-curdling yells of pain erupted, and the swift, out-of-tune clashing of metal could be heard. There were mixtures of outraged shouting amongst the people, gazing intensely at the fight of life or death that was clearly taking place. One of the combatants was known as Dior Ta'ukat – a Bounty Hunter working for the Exchange, and the other, was not known by name, but by title. A title the people of Nar Shaddaar hoped they would never see again – a Jedi.

Yet there was something different about this Jedi – as he fought, the ominous light streaks of crimson-blood-red soared through the air, both ends of the hilt he was clutching shining outwards with a fully-lengthed illumination. Dior wielded two mere retractable swords which were situated on a glove on either hand. Shattered metal scattered across the cold, solid concrete, as well as small portions of blood that were splattered randomly from cuts.

Dior was at a simple age of seventeen, yet had the skill of a twenty-seven-year-old Jedi, without the Force. She dropped herself to the ground, hunched down on one foot, and hastily swept the Jedi off of his feet from beneath him. She stood instantly, leaping back several times, before lobbing an adhesive grenade towards the fallen opponent. It missed him barely, as he tore from his falling spot, and charged directly for Dior.

She avoided the upcoming stab from his Lightsabre, dodging quickly to aside, and then slashed the Jedi severely across his left arm with the sword. She continued the attack, nevertheless, by kicking him directly in the stomach. Yet this did little – already he had regained health and countered with a flying kick in the jaw. The Bounty Hunter recoiled gingerly, placing a hand over the spot on her face where the Jedi had hit her.

There was a moment of pause, as she observed her opponent and what his weakness was, then retrieved a Blaster Pistol from its pocket, and shot directly at him. The blasts were deflected easily, back firing twice as fast. Dior evaded the attack, but eventually took a blast to the arm, and she dropped her gun on the ground behind her. It skidded to a halt, a terrible screeching sound emitted through the air as it did.

The crowd followed on, cheering and chanting '_fight!'_ over and over as the Bounty Hunter and Jedi fought. The Jedi spun his weapon over both arms, creating a blur of redness as he did so, and catching Dior off guard, caught the hilt tightly and stabbed her arm through. She let out a cry, touching the edge of her upper arm, which had a burning hole steaming in it. She stepped back cautiously, staring down at the ground.

Yet the burnt skin was not serious; the Jedi had only skimmed her arm. She held up both retractable swords, pointing dangerously towards the opponent, and then charged for his neck. The first slash was knocked aside with the Lightsabre, chipping the edging off slightly as the fumes of molten metal filled their nostrils, and then the second slash caught the man across his right cheek. Blood smeared across the Jedi's face, dripping in large amounts to the ground.

Dior took no time to allow the Jedi to rest; rapidly she elbowed him in the stomach, leapt from the floor, and then performed a spinning kick across her combatants' ribs. He coughed, turning away from her vicious assault, but then turned round just in time to smack her over the head with the hilt of his Lightsabre. Her head lolled back, but the Bounty Hunter straightened up and performed a set of cartwheels backwards.

She took this time to interrogate her attacker. "Who…who are you?"

He seemed tense, determined, yet somewhat detached and uncaring. The Jedi's face was pale and deformed, and owned many scars across his arms and face. The man replied: "The most powerful living being to roam the galaxy…"

Dior raised a brow, showing she thought he was acting a fool. "What's you name?"

"I do not own a name, Huntress. Names are a fickle thing in your mind, which represents one's self. I have died and returned; therefore I do not _need_ a name." The Jedi answered; his voice sly and snake-like. Dior showed no fear, but plain misunderstanding.

"What the hell are you going on about?" Dior mocked, keeping her ground steadily with both swords raised. She reached slowly into a pouch on her utility belt, pulling out an assortment of explosives and grenades. There was a rocket, another Adhesive grenade and an Ion grenade. Sweat was trailing down the side of her face, and the sensation of ice had changed to sickly heat. She waited.

"Are those…grenades there?" The Jedi muttered, instantly causing Dior to widen her eyes. She tensed her arm muscles, taking the Adhesive grenade once again, and drew her arm back. Slow motion kicked in – before she knew it, an odd, feeling of goo spread across her hand, an explosion emitting loudly through her ears. Blue glue scattered around her, swamping up around her feet, and in a matter of seconds, Dior noticed her feet were stuck securely to the ground.

The Bounty Hunter looked up at the Nameless Jedi, incomprehensively as she attempting to kick herself free of the detainment. The man walked slowly up to her, his hand outstretched with an oddly familiar gold glowing surrounding his hand. That was when she clocked on – her opponent had used the Force to explode the grenade above her. Her right hand was glued down also; her only free limb was her left hand.

When the Jedi was a mere metre away from her, he swung back a fist, and pummelled it directly into Dior's stomach. Winded, she held her breath, holding in the anger. She received a spinning kick directly in the face, which if she wasn't stuck down to the ground, would have made her fall back a few yards.

Dior had gotten into this mess, simply by tracking down the wrong person in her hunting. Without thinking, prior, the Bounty Hunter had been jumping from building to building, following the wrong person through the Refugee Sector, and the Jedi must've sensed it. She had done nothing to harm him, and only noticed he was after the wrong person, when he turned and attacked her.

—

_(((Flashback)))_

_Ten metres behind and counting. Dior's prey was in sight yet had a peculiar feeling of uneasiness. Her bounty was circling the Refugee Sector, as she ran aloft rooftops, watching him buying goods and weapons, belts – all sorts, from any shop he could get to. She followed on still – if she were to collect her bounty, she'd either have to trick him or knock him out when he was out of sight from any other Refugee. _

_Though, as he turned a corner, she followed, suddenly noticing his face. She stopped, dumbstruck. This wasn't her bounty – in fact, he was quite the opposite. This man had a black Mohican haircut, and his face was immensely pale. Her _actual_ reward would be for capturing someone with slightly long, blonde hair, and a chisel jaw caused by a slash from her sword she had given him. _

_This person may have worn a hood over his head, but she was sure. The one she was supposed to be after – the man called Jeriko Hustlin had been caught buying random things through the Refugee Sector, and never left it – and this was what this guy was doing. Nonetheless, Dior shook it off, and turned to walk away—_

"_Stop!"_

_The Bounty Hunter turned her head, just in time to evade a spinning blade of light heading directly for her. She dropped to her knees, and once the weapon had gone, she returned her focus to its owner. It was the man she had been following. Completely and utterly to her surprise, the man leapt up onto the roof where she was stood. She took a shockingly painful punch to the face, making her cartwheel backwards. _

_But that wasn't enough, he came at her again, side-kicking her stomach. Before she knew it, two weapons – weapons of the Jedi – she knew as a Lightsabre were ignited before her – ominous red gleaming in the night's sky. It was settled – she had been following an out-of-control Jedi for the past twenty minutes._

_(((End of flashback)))_

_—_

At last, the Adhesive grenade wore off, and quickly, she leapt backwards a metre, and then readied her two retractable weapons. A stream of blood had formed itself from a busted lip, and a painful to-be-brose had formed itself across her cheek. Dior panicked – she was loosing this fight rapidly. The Jedi charged onwards towards her, slicing one of the swords in two as she dodged out of the way and slashed the man across the arm once more.

The slash marks were there, but no pain was shown in his eyes – it was almost like he was unfeeling…literally. With every attack, the Bounty Hunter took another step back, and at the rate of the attacks, she was recoiling swiftly. She felt the back of her shoe tip off the edge of the floor. A freighter was docked beneath her, and the drop would go on for miles. She wobbled unevenly off the edge, just managing to stay on, but before she knew it, the Jedi had punched her squarely in the face, and she fell…

A horrible, sinking pit fell in Dior's stomach as she grasped desperately onto the edge of the concrete wall. She held her breath yet again, her shoes scraping warningly against the wall she was clinging onto as the Jedi looked down on her. Dior looked up at him, watching his metal boot hover over her hands. She stared, shivered, realising it was too late. If she didn't think of something quickly, it would be the end of her.

"Good night Huntress, it was a pleasure killing you." And with that, the boot came down. A sickening, crunching sound muffled as the metal against flesh happened. Dior let go. The velocity of the wind was increasing as she fell, her black hair billowing in front of her eyes, then behind her. She attempted to slow down by spreading out, but no avail.

Hastily, Dior sunk her nails into the concrete wall she was passing by, kicking her feet at its structure. The fall was losing speed, but not quickly enough to hit the ground and survive injuries. Trembling, the Bounty Hunter scrunched her eyes tight, preparing for an unpleasant impact as the flesh of her hands were becoming raw and leaving trails of blood. The knees of her pants were shredding rapidly across the walls rough surface, and just before the unreal shock of smacking against the ground, Dior leapt off the wall and onto her side.

Darkness formed over her eyes, as the beaten seventeen-year-old lay there, motionless, speechless yet, conscious and alive. The tides of the air whistled cautiously, and soon afterwards, the echoing _clunk!_ Of a metal sword clashed against the ground, just metres away from the body. The retractable sword of which had been knocked off by the Lightsabre of the Nameless Jedi. Silence was exchanged, apart from the extremely faint uproars of fear and following sonly after, a maniacal laughter.

As Dior remained on the floor, struggling to come to terms with standing – or even moving for that matter – only one word was printed in her mind…one word that would change the future of bounty hunting for years to come, and it was. "_Revenge."_

_—_

**The Fallen Jedi: Well, there's the 1st chapter of 'Bounty To Collect'. Hope you enjoyed - it wasn't much, just really an introduction. Review, please... i'll appreciate it. >.> **


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